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Washington stands by usage of bullpen

Washington stands by usage of bullpen

Ron Washington

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CHICAGO -- An injury-depleted bullpen finally caught up to the Rangers on Wednesday night, but manager Ron Washington said he was still comfortable with the performance of his relief corps during a 5-4 loss to the White Sox in 10 innings.

Washington admitted he was a bit limited during the game, which ended when White Sox third baseman Kevin Youkilis plated Alejandro De Aza from second with a walk-off single off righty Mike Adams, who was throwing his second inning. Adams threw only 10 pitches in the ninth, giving Washington a chance to keep him in for the 10th.

"He threw the ball well, but just didn't execute some pitches in some situations that may have made a difference," Washington said of Adams. "It had nothing to do with giving us a second inning; it was just not executing in certain situations."

Washington also looked at the decision as an opportunity to extend the rest of his bullpen in case the game continued.

"When you start looking down there at what you've got left, they had three left and we had three left, so you're just trying to extend the inning," Washington said. "If Mike would have given us 18 or 19 pitches in that ninth inning, we would have had to go to someone else right away. But because he gave us [10] pitches, we felt like maybe if we could get another one out of him, that could extend the other guys down there."

If Youkilis hadn't ended the game, Washington said he would have intentionally walked designated hitter Adam Dunn to set up a double-play situation with White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko at the plate.